Enigmatic Cool: The Duchess and Bremont celebrate Bletchley opening with new watch line

On the 18 June2014, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge visited Bletchley Park. The Duchess' visit was both to tour the newly restored historical buildings and to be presented with the limited edition Bremont Codebreaker watch. The visit marks the completion of a yearlong restoration project to return Bletchley Park to its WWII glory. British luxury watch brand Bremont played an important role in the process, collaborating with the Bletchley Park Trust to create a special watch. Some of the proceeds of the timepiece went to the restoration project.

The Duchess was treated to tours of the premises and learned about the code breakers who used to work in the buildings. Converted into a codebreaking factory for WWII, Bletchley Park has recently transformed the forgotten structures into a fascinating tribute to the men and women that worked there so many years ago. The Bletchley codebreakers decrypted, translated and analysed messages from the German Army and Air Force and eventually cracked the German enigma code. This helped shorten the war by about two years, and saved thousands of lives.

It was this legacy that inspired Bremont to create a special, limited edition, watch. Crafted in the style of classic officer watches from the 40s, the Codebreaker watch is both aesthetically and mechanically unique. Bremont created 240 stainless steel Codebreakers, and 60 in rose gold. Each individual watch contains authentic paper and metal from the machines codebreakers used to decipher messages during the war. Wearing the watch, one would be walking around with a piece of history right on their wrist.

The sale of these watches contributed to the successful restoration of Bletchley Park, and generated interest in the history of codebreaking. The new facilities at the park include interactive light-touch displays, projected images and period set dressing. All of these features drew the interest of the Duchess, and will surely captivate visitors in the future.